Iron Tears : Rebellion in America 1775-1781

America fought to gain independence from British colonial power between 1763 and 1783. It wasn't just a battle won by American revolutionaries. It was also lost by the British. Combining fascinating scenes of dissent in domestic British politics with graphic descriptions of the war in America, Weintraub's narrative is a page-turning story of military and political misfortune. As George Washington managed to hold his ragged and overmatched Continental army together and create a nation, his opponents -- principally King George III and his prime minister, Lord North -- themselves faced increasing resistance to the war's brutality and costs. Their opponents in Parliament and the press gradually turned pacifist and sympathetic to the Americans, and were unwilling to bear the costs of the Empire in America. As the tide turned on the battlefield, the 'iron tears' of muskets and cannon shed by the redcoats were matched by tearful protests in London. Although King George threatened to abdicate in frustration, many British merchants, voters, and politicians supported the cause of the new American nation, and were inspired by the leadership of Washington. Stanley Weintraub's masterful and eye-opening new history of the American War of Independence is the first ever written from a trans-Atlantic perspective.